The most common Rosewood used is Indian Rosewood. It is usually dark with medium to fine grain and very pourous. Brazillian Rosewood has also been used in the past but is very expensive and rare these days. Many dark woods with similar properties have been used but are not actually true Rosewoods at all.

The most common Rosewood substitute used now is Morado/Pauferro. We first used Morado in 1979. Morado is tight grained like Ebony and ranges in color from light to dark brown. It is more afforadable than Rosewood in recent years. See here;

We have used Bubinga fingerboards in the past for some models but since Morado is more available now, we use it exclusively in place of Rosewood. True Macassar Ebony is our premium Fingerboard wood with Morado running as a close second.

thx ken!
i was wondering because my rosewood FB on my new lakland has some alternating colors. It is mainly dark but it has a few lighter brown streaks in it. I have a link to the bass in my sig. Would these color changes be characteristic of a lower quality piece of rosewood? I think it looks pretty fetching...

Each tree grows in its own way and it is not surprising to see boards with this or that kind of color. Color is rarely a good predictor of how fit a wood is for a fingerboard. Straight grain is generally a good sign (structurally), tight grain is generally a bonus (ditto).

It's tough to get a good look at the board in those pictures but there are no glaring defects and as such I think you are okay. If you think it's fetching then consider it a bonus.

This thread fit a question I have. I have noticed that alot of newer rosewood fretboards are much lighter and porous looking and even have what looks like flecks of white in them. Are these inexpensive pieces of rosewood? Or are we running out of good stuff? You see it a lot on MIM Fenders, but I've seen in on US Fenders too. What really made me ask the question is looking at the new MIM 70's Jazzes with rosewood/blocks. The boards seem so light and almost dried out compared to older ones.

This thread fit a question I have. I have noticed that alot of newer rosewood fretboards are much lighter and porous looking and even have what looks like flecks of white in them. Are these inexpensive pieces of rosewood? Or are we running out of good stuff? You see it a lot on MIM Fenders, but I've seen in on US Fenders too. What really made me ask the question is looking at the new MIM 70's Jazzes with rosewood/blocks. The boards seem so light and almost dried out compared to older ones.